If you’re unfamiliar with Zerobot, it is a type of botnet that spreads across web applications and IoT by exploiting vulnerabilities. It is a malware as a service, which means it evolves over time. In fact, the Microsoft Defender for IoT security team says the botnet has been updated multiple times since it has been tracking the malware. Malware as a service is a relatively new concept in the cybercrime world....
Completely revamped models were supposed to change that by the end of this year, but that’s no longer the case. Mike Ybarra, vice president of Xbox and Windows gaming, confirmed a delay on Twitter. — Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) November 13, 2017 Disability Friendly It appears the Xbox team has further tweaks to make, so we’ll ‘most likely’ see them in early 2018. The Xbox avatars, as well a bringing beautiful new aesthetics, will give more customization....
The FCU brought two important new DirectX 12 features. Specifically, the new features give developers tools to determine what commands are at fault in a GPU crash. Rhyn says the tools were created to be used together in “device lost” and “device removed” problems. Before the introduction of the Fall Creators Update, DirectX 12 apps had no control over resource memory. However, there are certainly times when application developers need to access the resources....
The most prominent addition is breaking news notifications. Like the News app on desktop, Microsoft Edge will now alert the user when something important happens. A high percentage of users will have an app that does this already, but it’s a nice touch. Unfortunately, you can’t disable news alerts, but you are able to turn the news feed off entirely. It’s possible Microsoft will add it in the full build or give you the option once a notification gets pushed....
Dutch security researchers Bernard von Gastel and Carlo Meijer from Radboud University discovered the flaw and described it in a research paper. Titles “Weaknesses in the encryption of solid state drives,” the paper shows how hackers could access the drive and transfer data without needing password authentication. While this is clearly a major problem, it is somewhat self-mitigated. That’s because the attacker would need physical access to the drive to be able to exploit the vulnerability....
It is worth noting Microsoft Exchange Online has always had an upper limit. This is a cap on the number of emails someone can receive. This upper limit only really bothers so-called “hot recipients”, users who receive thousands of emails each hour. That upper limit is 3,600 but Microsoft has never really been strict about enforcing it. In other words, recipients were receiving over the upper limit without Microsoft stopping them....
Since launch DirectX 12 Ultimate has only been available to users running Windows 10 20H1 (May 2020 Update) or newer. Because of this limited availability, developers have been cool on creating for the new API is fewer people are using it. To stir developer interest, Microsoft is launching this week the DirectX 12 Agility SDK. While it is like DX12 Ultimate, the Agility SDK works with older Windows 10 versions....
However, Microsoft highlights that while its software lagged behind slightly in performance and false positive rates, it protected users 100% of the time. A new paper examines the results of the German AV-Tests and makes some interesting points. The main takeaway is that Windows Defender is still enough to protect users and that it’s getting better every year. The results show that it maintained a perfect protection score while improving in other areas....
The company originally planned to end the promotion on December 31, 2017. However, in its post, Microsoft says it wants the Windows 10 Pro path open for longer. So, the company has extended it to March 31, 2018. “For those that find they need an application that isn’t yet available in the Store and must be installed from another source, we’re extending the ability to switch from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro for free until March 31, 2018....
The antitrust complaint has been filed with both the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office. Kaspersky has already pushed the same complaint through the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). “We see clearly—and are ready to prove—that Microsoft uses its dominant position in the computer operating system (OS) market to fiercely promote its own—inferior—security software (Windows Defender) at the expense of users’ previously self-chosen security solution,” Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky explains....
Microsoft says the bug has affected Windows 10 versions 1803 (April 2018 Update) and 1809 (October 2018 Update). The company removed the faulty driver from Windows Update on October 11. It seems there was a faulty keyboard driver sent out by HP. Of course, this is an OEM specific problem, so only users of HP Windows 10 devices would have been affected. The driver was version 11.0.3.1 and caused “known incompatibility with certain HP devices”....
Yesterday was June 2020 Patch Tuesday and one of the fixes released was a patch for the issues blocking those Surface products. This means some Surface users who install the patch can now download Windows 10 May 2020 Update. However, users of the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 will still have to wait to receive the update. One of the problems Surface device owners reported was unscheduled restarts for devices using multiple Always Connected network adapters....
In a new update, Microsoft has detailed the latest episode of the Feature Discovery Series for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Furthermore, the company discussed the development roadmap and what we can expect. Looking at episode 7 of the Feature Discovery Serie, it is now available to view. This episode was announced in February alongside episode 6. The latest release focuses on the multiplayer mode of Flight Simulator. Microsoft also detailed episode 8, which is titled “Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)” and will released next month....
As a result, Microsoft Planner now has three new triggers: “When a new task is created – pick a plan and any new tasks in that plan will trigger the flow. Use this trigger if you want to sync a plan with another data source, like SharePoint Online. When a task is assigned to me – trigger a flow whenever a task is assigned to you – this way you could create an item in Wunderlist or Outlook Tasks....
This is an internal roadmap for Microsoft Forms. However, WalkingCat has found it and leaked it on Twitter. Users of the service can now see which features and abilities they will get in the coming months. For example, during the third quarter of the year (Q3 2018), features like a progress base, folder support, and an insert ability will arrive. Additionally, Microsoft will also add support for mobile forms. In all, these new abilities will make Microsoft Forms a more robust competitor to Google Forms....
Speaking to Bloomberg, Gates suggested that governments should just become firmer in regulating companies. “If there’s a way a company’s behaving that you want to get rid of, then, you know, you should just say, okay, that’s a banned behavior,” Gates said. “Splitting the company in two and having two people doing the bad thing, that doesn’t seem like a solution.” Gates went on to say that it’s a “pretty narrow set of things” to which he thinks breakups would be “the right answer to....
The temporary clearance lets Microsoft handle some ‘Secret’ level classified data – one level below the highest, ‘Top Secret’. Microsoft has six months from its award of the contract to obtain the authorization permanently, and nine months to reach Top Secret level. Undoubtedly, these require a multitude of security measures, infrastructure, and other assurances. “The Microsoft Azure IL6 offering provides classified processing capabilities up to the Secret level for DOD and Federal users,” DISA officials said in an email to the Washington Business Journal....
Currently, Garage locations around the world already have “makerspaces”. These are places where interns and Microsoft employees can get access to tools such as hardware and 3D printers. Microsoft has now added new Reality Rooms to these locations to boost the available resources. Reality Rooms, as the name suggests, give employees access to Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality solutions and hardware. The company clearly hopes this access will spur the creation of apps and services focused on mixed and virtual reality....
1 Research Benefits2 Transforming Long-Read Genetic Data Ahead of the start of the meeting tomorrow, Microsoft Genomics has listed what we can expect to see from the company. Among the announcements will be an advancement in genome analysis. Microsoft says it is “deepening its commitment to genomics” and will launch its fourth version of Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK4). Geralyn Miller, Director of Microsoft Genomics says GATK4 focuses on giving researchers optimal performance....
Despite this, there are still a few issues in 1903 that are still being investigated or are mitigated, rather than resolved. These failures to install updates, color profile issues, inability to discover Bluetooth devices, and more. Microsoft believes these significantly mitigated or minor enough that they’re fine for day-to-day use. The exception is those using some Wi-Fi adapters. Specifically, those with some Broadcom or Intel devices may experience a loss of connectivity each boot until they enable and disable the adapter in device manager....
